Accounting tasks: delegate tasks?

Keith Martin is the controller for Daniels Printing Service. Keith has been putting in a lot of overtime; therefore, Mr. Daniels has allowed Keith to hire an assistant. Keith's assistant is a bright, high school graduate, but he has never taken an accounting class. Keith is trying to decide which accounting activities could be delegated to his assistant. Keith is willing to give the assistant a few simple instructions on how to complete each task, but he doesn't have the time to teach the assistant to be an accountant.

For each task listed, state whether Keith should continue to do the work or delegate the task to his assistant. Explain each answer.

1. List the account balances from the general ledger in the Trial Balance columns of the work sheet.

Solution Preview

For the first task, it will be as simple as a "copy and paste" task for the assistant. Keith will only need to spend some little time, perhaps to make a list for the assistant, showing him what should be put to debit side or credit side (e.g. assets in TB will be on the debit side, and revenue in TB will be on credit side, so on so on). This will be a relatively simple task, the assistant just need to make sure both side balance ...

Solution Summary

This question considers Keith, a controller for Daniels Printing Service. Keith requires an assistant and is deciding whether or not this assistant can take on particular tasks. This solution provides detailed explanations as to why or why not the assistant will be able to take on each included task.